The world around Rainey blurred, dissolving into darkness as a strange force pulled him deep into his mind. His body felt weightless, suspended in a void where there was no sound, no light—just an endless emptiness. It was disorienting, dreamlike, and for a moment, he wondered if he was slipping away entirely.
Faint whispers began to echo around him, distant and muffled, like voices carried on the wind. The voices grew louder, and flashes of light flickered in the darkness—brief glimpses of places and faces Rainey couldn't remember, yet they felt familiar.
"What is this?" Rainey muttered. His voice sounded distant in the silence. His thoughts were sluggish, as if they were slipping away before he could grasp them. "Why can't I remember anything?"
A cold chill ran down his spine as the fragments continued to flicker. Shadows of people, blurred faces, moved through his mind. There was a woman—her features lost in the haze—and a voice calling out to him. He reached for it, but it slipped away, just beyond his reach.
"I'm Rainey, right?" he whispered, more to reassure himself than to ask. The name was all he had, the only thing that felt real. Everything else? It was a jigsaw puzzle, missing too many pieces.
Suddenly, the void gave way to blinding light, and Rainey found himself standing in a vast hall. Stone pillars stretched toward a high ceiling shrouded in shadows. The air was cool, and the faint scent of incense filled his senses.
"Where am I now?" Rainey's voice echoed in the empty hall, a tremor running through him. This place felt… familiar. Like he had been here before, though he couldn't say how. Could it be part of his past?
A voice, calm and authoritative, echoed through the hall.
"You're not ready."
Rainey spun around, searching for the source, but the hall was empty. No one there. The voice hung in the air, heavy with meaning, but Rainey didn't understand. Not ready for what?
"Not ready for what?" he muttered. "What am I supposed to be ready for?"
The scene flickered, as though reality itself was unstable. The stone pillars warped, bending like reflections in water. The voice came again, louder this time.
"Not yet."
The hall melted away, and Rainey was falling—plummeting through cold air, the sensation overwhelming his senses. His heart pounded as panic set in. He wanted to understand, to know what this all meant, but the answers stayed elusive.
And then, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped.
Rainey blinked, and he was back in the chamber, standing before the towering obelisk. His breath came in ragged gasps, and he wiped the sweat from his brow. The memory—if that's what it had been—was already slipping away, like a dream fading upon waking.
But something lingered.
"My name… I'm Rainey," he said quietly, clinging to that one truth. It was all he had, the only solid piece of himself that felt real. Everything else was a blur, fragmented, and his chest tightened with the weight of uncertainty.
The system's message hovered in the air before him, glowing faintly.
"Memory Fragment Detected."
"Memory Access Complete."
Rainey's hands curled into fists. "That was a memory? Why just a fragment? What good is that?" His frustration boiled beneath the surface. The memory had only added more confusion. A place, a voice, but no answers. Only more pieces of the puzzle that didn't fit.
The chamber rumbled, the floor beneath him trembling. His gaze snapped back to the obelisk as it pulsed with energy. The tower wasn't waiting for him to process anything—it was pushing him forward, deeper into the labyrinth, forcing him to uncover his past one piece at a time.
Another message appeared.
"Next Trial Unlocked: Trial of the Forgotten."
"Another trial. Of course." Rainey's voice was edged with sarcasm, though the name of the trial sent a chill through him. The Forgotten. What did it mean? And why did everything about this tower seem tied to his lost memories?
Taking a deep breath, Rainey stepped toward the newly revealed passage at the far end of the chamber. The walls were lined with glowing runes, and the air grew heavier as he ventured deeper into the unknown.
"I've already faced two trials, fought creatures I don't understand. What's next? What does this tower want from me?" His thoughts raced, questions swirling with no answers in sight. He felt like a pawn in a game he didn't know how to play.
The Trial of the Forgotten
The passage opened into a vast chamber, larger than any Rainey had seen so far. Towering statues of climbers—figures long forgotten—lined the walls, their faces worn smooth by time. In the center of the room stood an ancient stone altar, radiating a heavy, oppressive energy.
Rainey swallowed hard, his pulse quickening. "Who are these statues supposed to be? Climbers like me? People who failed?" The silence in the chamber was suffocating, amplifying his unease. He couldn't help but feel the weight of those who had come before him—those who had fallen and been forgotten.
"This place… it's like a graveyard for lost climbers. Am I next?" he muttered to himself, his voice barely a whisper. The faceless statues seemed to watch him, judging him, as if waiting to see if he would join their ranks.
As Rainey approached the altar, a message appeared.
"Trial of the Forgotten Initiated."
The ground beneath the altar trembled, and Rainey's heart skipped a beat as a figure began to rise from the shadows below. Cloaked in darkness, its form was humanoid but wrong—distorted. A chill ran down Rainey's spine as the figure stepped forward, its presence heavy and menacing.
He gripped his sword, heart racing. "What are you?" he whispered, his voice tight with fear. The figure didn't answer, but its eyes—if it had eyes—seemed to fix on him with a cold, predatory hunger.
"Defeat the Forgotten."
The words echoed in Rainey's mind just as the figure lunged at him with inhuman speed. He raised his sword, but the figure's hand shot out, gripping his wrist with an iron strength. Pain shot through his arm as he tried to pull free.
The figure leaned in, its breath cold and chilling. "You don't belong here," it whispered, the words cutting through the silence like a knife.
With a violent shove, the figure threw Rainey across the chamber. He hit the ground hard, the impact sending pain radiating through his side. "I don't belong? What does that mean?" he gasped, struggling to rise as the figure approached again.
The figure loomed over him, and Rainey's vision blurred as his hand desperately reached for the sword. His fingers brushed the hilt, but the figure was already preparing to strike.
"I can't fail now," Rainey muttered, forcing himself to his feet. His body ached, his mind raced. "There has to be more… more than this. I have to know why."
Before the figure could land its final blow, something deep inside Rainey stirred. Energy surged through him—stronger than before—and his hand tightened around the sword.